Tips for Beginners

If you’re new to Magic: The Gathering or trading card games as a whole, it can be pretty overwhelming at first. Learning the rules, how cards work, and proper etiquette is a daunting task, but these tips will point you in the right direction. Be sure to check out our full beginner’s guide if you’re after a more in-depth breakdown on how to get started with Magic. This page will just be a quick guide with a list of tips that are essential for any budding Planeswalker slinging cardboard for the first time.

Tips For Magic: The Gathering Beginners

• Find what colors work for you. The 5 colors of Magic are based on certain personality traits and demeanors, and you’re bound to find the color(s) that best suit your playstyle.

• Play cards you like. If you like a card, whether it’s because of its abilities or you just like the art, throw a couple copies into your deck and go crazy.

• Find an archetype you enjoy. Aggressive decks, slower control decks, and midrange decks are the building blocks of any strategy. Finding the right style of play will benefit you in the long run, but trying out everything is recommended.

• Understand turn structure. Knowing when you can and can’t play your cards and the different phases of a turn will mean the difference between victory and defeat.

• Use sleeves. Even if you’re just starting out and don’t have the most expensive deck, protecting your cards using sleeves is a great way to keep them in good shape and makes your deck much easier to shuffle.

• Use a playmat. Most players use mats to show off cool art or accomplishments, but the main benefit is that picking cards up off a hardwood table is way more annoying than you’d think.

• Use dice. Using dice in Magic is the perfect way to keep track of counters, life totals, Storm counts, and countless things in any given format.

• Play different formats. There are over a dozen ways to enjoy Magic using both new and old cards. Formats break pools of cards into legal or not, informing skillful deckbuilding and giving underpowered cards a chance to shine.

• Play Limited. Limited formats like Draft and Sealed are unique ways to play Magic using cards pulled directly out of booster packs. This is also one of the best ways to learn aMagic set’s mechanics and interactions.

• Find a local game store. Attending your LGS is a great way to find a community of like-minded players and learn the game, and supporting a local business is always a good thing.

• “Goldfish”. This is a term Magic players use to describe shuffling up your deck and playing alone, essentially shadowboxing in Magic. It’s a good way to quickly see how your deck and mana curve would perform in a real game.

• Embrace losing. Losing is a part of any game and is one of the best ways to get better. If you don’t lose and learn from your mistakes, how will you improve?

• Play online. Playing online is the best way to practice. Not having to drive to an LGS and wait for other players is helpful for busy adults and signing up for Magic Arena and Magic Online are both free.

• Have fun. Magic can be an extremely competitive game to the point that it can lose its charm. But it’s important to remember that it’s still just a game, and a very social one at that, and having fun is the most important aspect.